A Local Goose Family Needs Your Help

One of our members, Shelby, has brought to our attention a goose family in need of help. Mom is incubating eggs in a nest on a retaining wall outside Macy’s at Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, and Dad patrols the parking lot area below (apparently the family has chosen this ill-advised nesting site before!). Shoppers, both on foot and in cars, do not expect geese and will not be watching out for them (let’s be real: even if they did, would they?). Mall security doesn’t seem to care. They WILL care, however, if you all call to show them that a single goose family is important to you. Their number is 206-246-7400, press 5 for mall security. All we are asking is that a small area, 3 parking spaces, be cordoned off to protect this family from cars and people. You might also mention that messing with nesting geese is illegal, and that geese are excellent parents who may very well be aggressive towards people who come too close, so that creating a barrier between people and geese would be a good idea all round.

In less than a week, the Seattle premier of Speciesism: The Movie will be showing at The Varsity Theater.

I bought a copy if the documentary a couple of months ago and I loved it! I’ll be at the movie theater to see it again. The film follows Mark Devries across the country, as he sets out to figure out why humans see ourselves as the most important species and how we decide which animals are “food” and which are “pets.”

Devries learns a lot on his journey, and you’ll get see his awakening as he talks to animal rights experts, people on the street, and people in the “food animal” industries.

Lucky for us, Mark Devries will be in Seattle for the showing of Speciesism, and will be leading a Q&A session afterwards. You won’t want to miss it! Hear first-hand how making this movie shaped and changed his ideas. Maybe it will change yours too!

The Senate will soon be considering a dangerous bill that, if passed, will undermine years of protection for polar bears and hurt other wild animals.

The Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2014 (S. 1996) combines several radical hunting proposals into one bill. If passed, it will benefit a small group of wealthy trophy hunters who want to import polar bear trophies from Canada–despite current laws against that! The bill would also mandate that federal agencies open up millions of acres of public lands to hunting and trapping. It would also strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to protect habitat and people from lead poisoning through toxic ammunition exposure.

Act now

Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. Senator urge opposition for S. 1996. Look up your senator’s phone number here. You can say: “I would like you to please vote NO on S. 1996, the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2014.”

After making your phone call, please go to this HSUS page where you can personalize and submit the letter automatically.

The suit asks the Court to declare that Woodland Park Zoo is acting as a “hybrid” pubic agency and, as such, should be subject to Washington State’s Public Disclosure Laws. This means the Zoo would have to tell us how they spend the millions of tax payer dollars we give them AND answer our questions about Bamboo, Chai and Watoto’s quality of life.

Over the past 7 years FWPZE has filed many Public Disclosure Requests with the Zoo. The zoo has repeatedly refused to share important information about the welfare of the three elephants living there.

Woodland Park Zoo claims it isn’t subject to public disclosure requests. However, the Zoo’s operations are funded with $10.4 million taxpayer dollars and uses city-owned buildings and land at no cost.”

“Woodland Park Zoo can’t have it both ways; if it chooses to take our generous tax dollars, then it must be held accountable on how it spends our money,” said Fortgang. “I am simply asking that the Zoo be transparent with tax payers, which is why public records laws exist.”

Action:

While the suite is underway, please write a polite email asking for Bamboo, Chai and Watoto be retired to a sanctuary immediately.

The University of Washington Graduate School and the Northwest Animal Rights Network is honored to sponsor an evening community talk with Dr. Claire Jean Kim on Friday May 2, 2014 at El Centro De La Raza on Beacon Hill.

Dr. Claire Jean Kim

Dr. Kim is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Asian American Studies at University of California, Irvine, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate classes on racial politics, multiculturalism, social movements, and human-animal studies. Her most recent book, Race, Species and Nature in a Multicultural Age (Cambridge University Press, 2014), examines the intersection of race, species and nature in impassioned disputes over how immigrants of color, racialized minorities, and Native people in the U.S. use animals in their cultural traditions.

Join Dr. Kim in a discussion on how might we re-imagine the human, the animal, and nature outside of relations of domination. What would justice in a multi-racial, multi-species world look like? RSVP on the Facebook event page here to reserve your spot. We are particularly proud to be offering this talk at El Centro de la Raza (Center for People of All Races). Read more about their guiding principals.

If getting to the University of Washington campus is easier for you, Dr Kim will also be speaking on Thursday evening, May 1, 2014 at Kane Hall at 6:30 pm. More details on that event here.

In Georgia, a bill is under review which would permit the use of live raccoons for field trial competitions. Time is running out — the bill, HB423, has already been approved by the State House and has now gone to the Natural Resources Committee, where it could be discussed any day. Please help stop this Bill – if passed, hunters will be allowed to train their dogs using caged live raccoons. Every minute in confinement is already a terrifying eternity for them. In addition, they are flung high into trees or hauled across fields and bodies of water as frantic dogs give chase. They must repeatedly endure this hellish ordeal, often for hours on end, and many are badly injured or killed during the trials. Survivors risk developing chronic and contagious stress-induced disorders, which are also often fatal.

URGENT ACTION! Please contact the members of the Natural Resources Committee and urge them to oppose HB 423.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently stripped wolves of their Endangered Species Act protections in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes. As a result, these states have opened trophy hunting and trapping seasons, and thousands of wolves have been mercilessly slaughtered.

The FWS has also proposed removing protections for wolves in the rest of the lower 48 states, which would lead to even more killing. Thanks to feedback from nearly A MILLION citizens and a host of conservation biologists, the FWS recently convened a new panel of experts to revisit the issue. This new panel found that the FWS relied upon ONE SINGLE — faulty — paper in deciding to remove federal protections from wolves.

A new comment period is open and the FWS needs to hear from you before March 27. After a previous such comment period in Michigan, 10,000 pro-wolf comments were deliberately deleted; we trust that this will not happen with the Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell. (Sample letter/email below, but personalizing it is always a good idea!)

Dear Secretary Jewell,

I value wolves and I want to see them protected by the Endangered Species Act. Without these federal safeguards, wolves are pitted against an unfair arsenal of traps, snares, baits, hounds, and shooters who kill them from low-flying aircraft. Killing wolves puts their family packs in disarray and leaves young pups to starve.
Most Americans love wolves, and wolf-watching tourists spend millions of dollars to see them in places like Yellowstone National Park. After receiving pressure from the livestock industry and extreme groups, the government has given up on wolves and literally put them in the crosshairs before they could recover to most of their historic range. It’s quite simple: wolf populations are still recovering, and the best available science does not support their removal from the protections afforded to them by the Endangered Species Act. Please provide adequate protections for this iconic and beautiful species.

Your action can save a lot of lives. And a lot of suffering. Wolves are seldom killed instantly with a single clean shot. Remember hunters who shoot anything that moves; remember bowhunters and traps. Please give up 15 minutes for this. Don’t put it off.

A lot of people don’t realize that many shampoos, moisturizers, and another cosmetics are still tested on animals. Fortunately a new act, the Humane Cosmetics Act, would relegate animal testing for cosmetics to the history books.

H.R. 4148 would prohibit animal testing for cosmetics manufactured or sold in the U.S., and would ending painful tests on countless rabbits, mice, rats, and guinea pigs. Safe cosmetics can be made from thousands of existing ingredients. Plus, several non-animal safety tests are available for new ingredients. These non-animal alternatives are quick, safe, cost-effective, and often more reliable than animal-model testing.

The European Union and Israel have already phased out cosmetics animal testing, and we can too!

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to your U.S. representative and urge him or her to support H.R. 4148. You can find your rep’s name here.

Tell your rep: “I’m a constituent and I urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 4148 if you haven’t already done so. This bill would prohibit animal testing for cosmetics manufactured or sold in the U.S.”

This week, we desperately need every U.S. citizen to call and send a letter to both of your US Senators to help protect wildlife and public lands from those who enjoy killing wild animals including hunters, anglers, and trappers.

Two bills, the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2014 (S. 1996) and the Sportsmen’s Act (S. 1335), are currently pending in the Senate, while the latter has already passed the House.

The goal of this package of bills, collectively called SHARE (Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreation Act), is to further “sportsmen’s” interests — although we know that in fact there is nothing sporting about killing other for FUN. The bills have provisions that, if passed, would open more federal land to hunting, fishing, and trapping, allow the importation of polar bear “trophies” from Canada, interfere with the Toxic Substances Control Act and allow hunting in National Parks.

Please send the letter below (or preferably a personalized version of it) to both of your U.S. Senators.

Follow up with a call and say: “Please OPPOSE S.1996 the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s bill, S.1335 the Sportsmen’s bill, and all related bills.” That is ALL.

Sample letter: I urge you to vote against S.1996 the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s bill, S.1335 and all related bills.

The overall goal of these bills is to further the interests of “sportsmen,” a minority compared to the overwhelming majority of the public who do not hunt, fish, or trap. Furthermore, these bills, if passed, would undermine provisions of existing conservation statutes, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. These bills would interfere with the exercise of authority by federal agencies responsible for managing federal lands and protecting public health.

By favoring the interests of a minority against those of the majority of the taxpaying public, who use public lands for nonviolent and peaceful enjoyment, these bills seek to take control of wildlife and public lands away from federal agencies and the public and hand it over to hunters, anglers, and trappers. This will not be tolerated by the majority of the public who use these lands, and who finance the protection and maintenance of them through our tax dollars.

I am strongly opposed to S. 1996, S. 1335 and all related Sportsmen’s bills, and I urge you to vote on my behalf against these bills, which would compromise existing protections for wildlife, public lands, and public health.

Calendar

January2019

NARN's board of directors meets monthly to discuss our campaigns and administrative issues. Guests are welcome to attend if we have enough time on our agenda.

If you wish to have an agenda item added to the NARN Board Meeting, please email info@narn.org at least a day in advance. You can also send us a message on Facebook anytime or even the day of the meeting and we'll get back to you. All NARN Board Meetings are held in Seattle.

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by our desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join us in providing free, educational information to the public about the dangers of supporting backyard breeding practices and puppy mills, the importance of spaying and neutering pets, the time and money it takes to responsibly care for a living creature, and the positive effects of screening pet owners through application processes.

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2093159060741059/

Come join us for a delicious brunch at the fabulous Celest Cafe AND write some letters for animals.

NARN provides the stationery, pens, stamps, sample letters, and ideas for what to write -- just bring yourself. You can even bring your laptop if you'd prefer to type or email your letters!

Why letter writing? Letter writing is a simple way to make change for the animals! At our letter writing events, we write for many different reasons: opposition to the creation of new animal laboratories, support for sending animals to sanctuary, promotion of vegan events and issues through letters to the media, and raising the spirits of activists and comrades who have been jailed for their pro-animal and political actions!

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 6pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/512061562622307/

The University of Washington's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) will be meeting to discuss various research protocols (study designs). This is your chance to voice your opinion about the research on animals that goes on at the UW. Please come and speak for the animals!
The meetings are held at the South Campus Center; Room #342 (in between San Juan Road & Columbia Road); behind the Magnuson Health Sciences Center (1925 N.E. Pacific St) )
http://www.washington.edu/maps/

Unfortunately, they frequently re-schedule or cancel their meetings in an attempt to avoid the public, so please call the Public Affairs Office at 206-543-9180 to make sure the meeting is still happening at the given time.
You can also check out their calendar here (copy & paste link into your browser)
http://oaw.washington.edu/iacuc-meeting-schedule/

This month we will be checking out Travelers Thali House. They have tons of vegan options. See their menu here:
http://www.travelersthalihouse.com/Menu102014.html
The Social Discussion Group is a casual event. Drinkers and non-drinkers are welcome, and you don't have to be vegetarian to participate. We hope you'll join us! Questions? Contact rachel[at]narn[dot]org

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/406570843449273/

La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza will be offering a tasty Vegan Tamales Cooking Class in partnership with the Food Empowerment Project! Now is your chance to learn how to make vegan tamales from a master tamalera! The tamales are prepared in the handmade and traditional fashion using cultural ingredients. Sweet sangrias, beer and wine will also be served and is included in the ticket price.

Class will begin promptly at 10:00 AM in the kitchen at El Centro de la Raza. Classes typically take 2.5 to 3 hours long. All cooking supplies and ingredients will be provided, but please bring your own apron.

The money for the La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza Latin Cooking Classes go to fund El Centro de la Raza's Senior programs.

For updates on this event see
https://www.facebook.com/events/2404477662895760/